Starting a New Line/Brand Feedback Thread

Alot of it is work ethic like are you willing to put money into something that you might not profit from for a while? Alot of risk and a lot of lessons...

Lesson I learned so far is never try to order hoodies in November a lot of shit is on back order... And PLAN AHEAD ... I'm gonna try to get my self more on a schedule

Word. This 100x over. You can have mega cool gear but if you dont know anything about marketing or branding you might as well go home now. I know a guy who has one logo, im not a fan of it personally, but he just puts it on anything and everything and he markets it well and hes sold over 6000 pieces.

The schedule thing is crucial. Every 3 months we have a drop. we have contests and promotions and all that planned out on a calendar to maximize our reach on things. Starting to make a 3 month calendar now to make sure everything gets done on time for our spring line. The way Winter is going ill be sold out of 90% of my stock (minus snapbacks) by christmas. So then we switch our focus to networking and getting custom orders and music videos to make money in the other two months and its been going good. This should be a pretty good year for us considering we have only been doing it for a little over a year.

Also, if something can go wrong, it always fucking does lol. Shipments never come on time, products never look the way you think, photoshoots always take longer etc. Gotta plan for everything to go wrong and always have a backup!

The schedule thing is crucial. Every 3 months we have a drop. we have contests and promotions and all that planned out on a calendar to maximize our reach on things. Starting to make a 3 month calendar now to make sure everything gets done on time for our spring line. The way Winter is going ill be sold out of 90% of my stock (minus snapbacks) by christmas. So then we switch our focus to networking and getting custom orders and music videos to make money in the other two months and its been going good. This should be a pretty good year for us considering we have only been doing it for a little over a year.

Also, if something can go wrong, it always fucking does lol. Shipments never come on time, products never look the way you think, photoshoots always take longer etc. Gotta plan for everything to go wrong and always have a backup!

You sound like you know what your doing. I'm stoked on your guys progression over the past little bit. Gotta represent Canada strong. Keep it up homie!

Alot of it is work ethic like are you willing to put money into something that you might not profit from for a while? Alot of risk and a lot of lessons...

Lesson I learned so far is never try to order hoodies in November a lot of shit is on back order... And PLAN AHEAD ... I'm gonna try to get my self more on a schedule

Word. This 100x over. You can have mega cool gear but if you dont know anything about marketing or branding you might as well go home now. I know a guy who has one logo, im not a fan of it personally, but he just puts it on anything and everything and he markets it well and hes sold over 6000 pieces.

The schedule thing is crucial. Every 3 months we have a drop. we have contests and promotions and all that planned out on a calendar to maximize our reach on things. Starting to make a 3 month calendar now to make sure everything gets done on time for our spring line. The way Winter is going ill be sold out of 90% of my stock (minus snapbacks) by christmas. So then we switch our focus to networking and getting custom orders and music videos to make money in the other two months and its been going good. This should be a pretty good year for us considering we have only been doing it for a little over a year.

Also, if something can go wrong, it always fucking does lol. Shipments never come on time, products never look the way you think, photoshoots always take longer etc. Gotta plan for everything to go wrong and always have a backup!

One of my favorite people/brand in this thread. Always speaking the truth.

everybody who postin in here either got a clothing line or is strongly thinkin bout it, is bout 251 pages thas hella clothing brands only 5 of us gon be successful.. we need to start killin off the the creators of the wacker brands before they sign tht karmaloop contract

It's funny how people come on here talking shit like if this is some battle of the fittest.

We are all here for one reason, to share ideas and opninions, not some competition about who's better or not. Half these little kids who talk smack here are tumblr obsessed, internet personalities. Probably not even older than 15-17 years old.

We (the majority) of us are creating businesses that offer a product.

It's funny the stupid shit these little kids say, makes me think ya'll never had a father figure to teach you how to be a man and mind your own business.

I'm trying to target a whole other market and stay away from the streetwear market. I don't want to have some little hypebeast kid wearing my shit b/c the masses wear it. I want people to wear my shit b/c it looks like a cool fucking design or idea for a shirt. I don't make hyped clothes. I don't make tumblr worthy t shirts.... Now if my brand is highly respected in the streetwear market, then cool. But i'm not about the hype.

Have a backbone and wear something that's nice... not something your favorit e tumblr celeb is wearing. That shit is for the birds and will probably never get you laid.

I've recently taken the first steps to get my line off the ground. Started with 3 simple designs, including the brand's logo (raglan tee). Keep up with our progress at http://soundisamovement.tumblr.com/ or follow on Twitter @423SIAM

Thanks man. That one has been much more popular than the "Feelin' it" tee so far. I tried to keep this first drop simple and clean looking, with my budget in mind, just to start getting the name out. The spring designs have more of a message in mind. I've had a good response locally.

I've recently taken the first steps to get my line off the ground. Started with 3 simple designs, including the brand's logo (raglan tee). Keep up with our progress at http://soundisamovement.tumblr.com/ or follow on Twitter @423SIAM

I was quoted 6-8 weeks. Half of my order took 14 weeks to come, the other half they fucked up on, as in, they took my font design, and used a random text instead. I legit JUST got them last week, and i had paid for them LAST march.

They takes WEEKS to reply to simple emails.

Yes they have good quality, but they have terrible customer service and are totally unreliable. They also dont tell you about their own pfits tags they sew into the hats even when you order your own tags.

The schedule thing is crucial. Every 3 months we have a drop. we have contests and promotions and all that planned out on a calendar to maximize our reach on things. Starting to make a 3 month calendar now to make sure everything gets done on time for our spring line. The way Winter is going ill be sold out of 90% of my stock (minus snapbacks) by christmas. So then we switch our focus to networking and getting custom orders and music videos to make money in the other two months and its been going good. This should be a pretty good year for us considering we have only been doing it for a little over a year.

Also, if something can go wrong, it always fucking does lol. Shipments never come on time, products never look the way you think, photoshoots always take longer etc. Gotta plan for everything to go wrong and always have a backup!

You sound like you know what your doing. I'm stoked on your guys progression over the past little bit. Gotta represent Canada strong. Keep it up homie!

Word thanks man! Love your hats you guys have got done as well. Thats a west coast thing I could not move those hats in Edmonton lol. We have been talking with a few other brands in Alberta and were thinking about starting a collective of streetwear brands that would be interested in doing Cut & Sew with us. We might have an opening for another brand and you guys were my first pick so ill keep you in the loop!

How is everyones winter line doing??My Winter line has almost sold out after only a week. Most of my hoodies and sweaters are only left in like a XS or S. Im stoked its selling but i bet we could of ordered more :/ I have people contacting us about sponsorships now and press kit requests but i dont have anything left to send lol.

Anyone have any above average success with giving snapbacks out to local celebs/musicians? Or is it the same as doing shirts? We have yet to sponsor anyone and we avoid giving out free stuff and doing sales at all costs so it would be interesting to hear fro others on this.

Also just an interesting bit of info for starter brands. Just because you have low prices doesn't mean you will make more money or more sales. People are asking why i'm charging $75-$85 for hoodies(all of our stuff is made in canada and thats not cheap) and saying its over priced etc. But that stuff sold out in a week. A week. It just proves that if someone likes something they will buy it, regardless of +/- $10. Its easier to move less product for more money than to try and sell more for less.

Flavor is always looking to work with new people, we believe its easier to work with other people in the industry and grow together than try and be the best and hate everyone else. So anyone on this forum looking to expand/do collabs/talk etc hit me up!

Would you recommend buying t-shirts from somewhere like Delta Apparel to print on, or get your own t-shirts manufactured? I'm leaning towards manufacturing my own, but I don't know where to go to. Any suggestions?

Would you recommend buying t-shirts from somewhere like Delta Apparel to print on, or get your own t-shirts manufactured? I'm leaning towards manufacturing my own, but I don't know where to go to. Any suggestions?

I wouldnt waste time trying to get custom shirts made. Trying to maintain quality control on those would be almost impossible. You would get cheap fabric most likely and you'd have to spend time/money doing tests on shrinking etc to make sure they didn't shrink all crazy. Even large companies use blanks sometimes. Alstyle is my preferred choice. 1301s if you want cheap, chalky shirts. 5301s if you want good quality.

Would you recommend buying t-shirts from somewhere like Delta Apparel to print on, or get your own t-shirts manufactured? I'm leaning towards manufacturing my own, but I don't know where to go to. Any suggestions?

So I've got a few questions and I appreciate any feedback or answers to any of them...

I'm fairly new to this whole process but I've definitely done my fair share of "homework" when it comes to starting a brand and making sure I do it correctly. There are just a few things I haven't found appropriate answers to...

1. Do most of you guys get your shirts right through the person or place screenprinting/embroidering your logo onto them (assuming you aren't going to be doing that yourself) or would you sign up for a site such as alstyle, gildan, anvil, etc. and set up an account and go about it that way? or just keep a look out for a solid manufacturer?

2. Does anyone have a resale number? I know that it's a good idea to register your business and get the retail sales certificate and eventually get the resale number but is that something that necessarily needs to be done right away? (yes, I will be selling my product on the internet)

3. With so much competition in this industry (and on these forums) I know that asking someone who they use as a manufacturer is pretty outlandish because that information is very valuable, but do you use multiple manufacturers (i.e one place for shirts, one place for silk tags, one place for beanies, etc.) or should I be looking for a place that does all of the above (if that even exists)?

I apologize if any of these questions have already been answered or previously addressed... I have tried searching but just haven't had much luck with these issues... Any help is appreciated... thanks guys.

So I've got a few questions and I appreciate any feedback or answers to any of them...

I'm fairly new to this whole process but I've definitely done my fair share of "homework" when it comes to starting a brand and making sure I do it correctly. There are just a few things I haven't found appropriate answers to...

1. Do most of you guys get your shirts right through the person or place screenprinting/embroidering your logo onto them (assuming you aren't going to be doing that yourself) or would you sign up for a site such as alstyle, gildan, anvil, etc. and set up an account and go about it that way? or just keep a look out for a solid manufacturer?

2. Does anyone have a resale number? I know that it's a good idea to register your business and get the retail sales certificate and eventually get the resale number but is that something that necessarily needs to be done right away? (yes, I will be selling my product on the internet)

3. With so much competition in this industry (and on these forums) I know that asking someone who they use as a manufacturer is pretty outlandish because that information is very valuable, but do you use multiple manufacturers (i.e one place for shirts, one place for silk tags, one place for beanies, etc.) or should I be looking for a place that does all of the above (if that even exists)?

I apologize if any of these questions have already been answered or previously addressed... I have tried searching but just haven't had much luck with these issues... Any help is appreciated... thanks guys.

These are pretty legit questions.

1 and 2 kind of go together. But I'll answer them separately but the second one first.

2. (This might be state specific) Reseller license means no sales tax on anything you're purchasing with the intent to resell it. I know in Washington, this only works if you don't have a physical location (I could be wrong about that). Depending on your state (I'm assuming you're in the states) this is something worth getting. I'd go online to find out more, Washington's Dept. of Revenue is good for answering questions.

1. You can your tees from a screen printer but there will be a markup. I'm pretty sure most screen printers markup their supply of tees. Unless, for someone reason, when you work the numbers that a middleman makes sense then don't worry about it. But, like in most cases, you should remove the middleman and setup an account with Allstyle or whoever. Some/most suppliers want a reseller number, that's why I answered the second question first. Stores and a few print shops might want a reseller number too (especially when you are doing volume).

3. Personally, I would look at who does the best in what we need to get done (with in your budget). I'd be very surprised if one brand who offers more than tees and fleece used one source for everything. We use American Apparel for the majority of our stuff. We want the Made in USA label but we'd never use them hats (and I'm not a fan of their beanies either) for example. Talking to most people, they use one source for tees, one for fleece and another hats and so on. As far as I understand, the only place to do one stop manufacturing is in China. Over there, from what I've been told, everything from start to finish is under one roof (if you can find the right place).

My best recommendation is to find a good print shop you trust and they can lead you in the right direction.

@shillco thanks man i really appreciate it... and yeah i've looked into the reseller license, i just wasn't sure if people had found a way around it (to save money on the fees) or if i was better off just sucking it up and paying for it right off the bat and I seem to have found my answer... Thanks again for helping me out homie!